In the final round of a televised game show that pitted top players against IBM’s AI program Watson, a humbled human jotted down an aside to his written response: “I for one welcome our new computer overlords.” Now even doctors are speaking that way. “I’d like to shake Watson’s hand,” says Mark Kris, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York City. He talks excitedly about the day in late 2013 when Watson—now his student—will be fully trained and ready to assist physicians at the cancer center with their diagnoses and treatment plans. It will be quite a career move for Watson, but one that IBM scientists envisioned from the get-go. They hope health care will be the killer app for Watson, an AI with phenomenal skills in natural-language processing.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.